“Wayfair reports it spent $196 each on its 3.6 million new customers this year. Customer acquisition costs have an adverse effect on the company's bottom line.” ~ CNBC
I looked up the above information after reading in today’s WSJ that Wayfair reported an increase in active users to 15 million—but it’s still spending amost $200 to acquire each new customer. Wayfair, which has negative cash flow (debt?) of $137m, appears to be open to exiting its predicament by selling itself to a larger retail player (a la Walmart buying Jet.com).
Notably, most indies stores fret about losing $10 via free shipping to acquire a new customer. In light of Wayfair’s $200 cost, I’d say that ‘losing’ $10 is a great deal to acquire a new customer.